1. Field of the Invention
The present description generally relates to monitoring various aspects of casinos and gaming, and more specifically relates to automated game and wager tracking and analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Casinos and other forms of gaming are a multi-billion dollar, world-wide industry. Typically, a customer exchanges currency or some form of credit for a casino""s chips. The customer places the chips as wagers at various games, such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and baccarat. A game operator, such as a dealer, pays out winning wagers with additional chips based on the set of odds for the particular game. The dealer collects the customer""s chips for losing wagers. The odds of each game slightly favor the casino, so on average the casino wins and is profitable.
Like many businesses, casinos wish to understand the habits of their customers. Some casinos have employees visually observe customer""s game play, manually tracking the gaming and wagering habits of the particular customers. The information allows the casinos to select the number of different games that the casino will provide and to adequately staff those games. The information also allows the casinos to select certain customers to receive complimentary benefits (xe2x80x9ccompsxe2x80x9d) and to determine the amount of comps a particular customer is to receive. The act of giving comps to a customer, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9ccomping,xe2x80x9d produces a large amount of good will with the customers, encouraging customer loyalty and further wagering. Some casinos have attempted to partially automate the tracking process, reading a customer xe2x80x9ccompxe2x80x9d card to identify the customer. The actual gaming and wagering patterns of the customers are visually observed by casino personnel and manually entered into a computer to create a digitized copy of the customer""s gaming habits.
Similarly, casinos wish to track the efficiency of the casino and the casino""s employees. Such information allows the casino to make change to increase the overall efficiency of the casino and of the employees, benefiting both the casino and customers. A typical method of tracking employee efficiency is to manually count the number of hands of blackjack dealt by a dealer over some time period. A change in an amount in a bank at the gaming table can also be manually determined and combined with the count of the number of hands to determine a won/loss percentage for the dealer. The casino can use the information to take appropriate action, such as rewarding an efficient dealer, or providing additional training to an inefficient dealer.
The fast pace and large sums of money make casinos likely targets for cheating and stealing. Casinos employ a variety of security measures to discourage cheating or stealing by both customers and employees. For example, surveillance cameras covering a gaming area or particular gaming table provide a live or taped video signal that security personnel can closely examine. Additionally, or alternatively, xe2x80x9cpit managersxe2x80x9d can visually monitor the live play of a game at the gaming table.
While some aspects of a casino""s security system should be plainly visible as a deterrent, other aspects of the security should be unobtrusive to avoid detracting from the players""enjoyment of the game and to prevent cheaters and thieves from avoiding detection.
The current methods of tracking have several drawbacks. The methods typically depend on manual observation of a gaming table. Thus coverage is not comprehensive, and is limited to tracking a relatively small number of games, customer""s and employees. This problem is exacerbated by a customer""s ability to rapidly move between gaming tables. A commonly known method for cheating customers to avoid detection is to switch tables frequently. The tracking methods are also prone to error since the manual methods rely on human observers who can become inattentive or distracted. In one commonly known method of cheating the casino, one member of a team will create a distraction while another member steals chips or swaps cards. These manual tracking methods are also labor intensive, and thus costly.
In one aspect, the invention includes a system for automatically monitoring playing and wagering of a game. In one illustrated embodiment, the system includes a card deck reader that automatically reads a respective symbol from each card in a deck of cards before a first one of the cards is removed from the deck. The symbol identifies a value of the card in terms of rank and suit, and can take the form of a machine-readable symbol, such as a bar code, area or matrix code or stacked code. In another aspect, the system does not decode the read symbol until the respective card is dealt, to ensure security.
In another aspect, the system can include a chip tray reader that automatically images the contents of a chip tray. The system periodically determines the number and value of chips in the chip tray from the image, and compares the change in contents of the chip tray to the outcome of game play to verify that the proper amounts have been paid out and collected.
In a further aspect, the system can include a table monitor that automatically images the activity or events occurring at a gaming table. The system periodically compares images of the gaming table to identify wagering, as well as the appearance, removal and position of cards and/or other objects on the gaming table. The table monitoring system can be unobtrusively located in the chip tray.
In yet a further aspect, the invention includes a drop box that automatically verifies an amount and authenticity of a deposit and reconciles the deposit with a change in the contents of the chip tray. The drop box can image different portions of the deposited item, selecting appropriate lighting and resolutions to examine security features in the deposited item.
In another aspect, the system can employ some, or all of the components to monitor the gaming habits of players and the performance of employees. The system can detect suspect playing and wagering patterns that may be prohibited. The system can also identify the win/loss percentage of the players and the dealer, as well as a number of other statistically relevant measures. Such measures can provide a casino or other gaming establishment with enhanced automated security, and automated real-time accounting. The measures can additionally provide a basis for automatically allocating complimentary benefits to the players.